Review: Amex Platinum roadside assistance

italdesign

Level 2 Member
Today I had the pleasure of losing my car key. Didn't realize until after work and I was ready to go home. Car was parked in company garage. I thought of credit card benefits after 30 minutes of failing to find the key. Amex will be happy to know that Platinum was the first card that came to mind - I didn't even think of Prestige until the whole thing ended. Here's a mini review of my experience.

Of course, since I have like 500 cards to meet minimum spend on, I didn't have room for Plat (or any Amex card) in my wallet. I googled for the Plat phone # and dialed it. I chose the Concierge option. I waited 5 minutes and impatiently hung up. I called back and chose the Card Services option. I explained that I lost my car key and would like to know if any of my cards offers free roadside assistance (RA). The agent immediately transferred me to the RA dept, likely an external service provider, who didn't have a way to look up my card #. Eventually he was able to get an Amex agent on the line to verify my card type. At this point the Amex agent was simply reading all the cards I had with them ("you have a LOT of cards with us"). I interrupt to suggest that we look up the RA benefit for Plat, since that likely has the best. Indeed it did. After taking some standard information, the RA agent asked what's the clearance for the garage. Hell if I know, but I ran to the garage (BTW at this point my phone was on 15% battery life - the one day out of the year when my phone didn't fully charge overnight) and read him the 7'6" clearance sign. He informed me the first 10 miles of towing would be free, and $3 per mile after that. My home was 13 miles away and I was charged $9. Very glad to pay that, if it got me home...

Yes, IF it got me home. RA agent said he would now find a tow truck and call me back in 2-3 minutes. 15 minutes later, nothing. At this point one of my friends happened to pass by and I explained my misfortune. He offered his AAA membership to unlock the car and offer me a ride home (and I would get spare car key from home and return to fetch car next day). So I called RA to see why it was taking so long. I got a different agent, who checked with my agent and reported that he was still trying to find a tower for me. A few minutes later the original agent called me and expressed his disappointment that he found no tower for me. Apparently the low clearance was a problem. Meanwhile, my friend was starting to call AAA. I thanked the agent for his effort and shifted hope to my friend. AAA confirmed tower will be here in 25 min. Great. We chitchat for a while and before we know it it's already 40 minutes and nothing. We call AAA, whose automated recording says "we use your cell tower to locate you to provide best service..." low and behold, it connected to us to a AAA in a different state (!), who failed multiple times to connect us to the AAA in our area. So much for the automated location detection. We call the local # but as we are dialing, he gets a call from the tower saying he's almost here. Great. As a sidenote the driver was quite a character. I don't know how to describe it other than to say he is from a world I rarely interact with. Not necessarily a bad thing, just different. He arrives, is able to get into the garage, and after a few minutes the door was pried open. Low and behold, the key is in my jacket in the car! I wore it when I was sitting in the car but left it in the car since the day would get hotter. Car wasn't smart enough to detect that the key was in the car - not sure if new cars would. At this point it was 3 hours after I first started looking for the key. I was very glad to have found it after all.

In summary, the RA benefits of Amex Plat are nice on paper - free towing up to 10 miles and only $3/mile after that, plus free unlocking and other possibilities (note, each activity counts against the FOUR cap per year). However, after half an hour of them starting to look for a tow truck, they could not find one ("we can probably find you one tomorrow" - really?). Probably not for lack of trying, and maybe it had everything to do with the low clearance of the garage (I don't know), but they failed me. On the other hand, AAA was also delayed by about 20 minutes, but it did come and get the job done in the end.

In short, don't get stuck in a multi-story garage.

I wonder how Citi Prestige would have fared.
 

Panache

Level 2 Member
Good to know! I have RA with Liberty Mutual through car insurance (and it's only a small amount each year so I kept it) and they came quickly (20 min or so) when my car battery died one time 4 or 5 years ago
 

Someone

Level 2 Member
The thing to keep in mind is that you don't pay these tow guys or the various dispatch services to think. If there's a creative solution (even a blindingly obvious one) you have to come up with it. Your Platinum tow guy could easily have come out and unlocked the car just the same.

Last winter I was parked a few floors up in a parking garage near my office, worked late (1 AM) and came out to a dead battery. Called AAA and after sitting in my car freezing for a while, got a call from the tow guy saying he didn't want to come because his truck wouldn't fit. I told him I just needed a jump and he reiterated that it wouldn't fit. I told him his portable battery pack would definitely fit and if he was too tired I'd carry it up the two flights of stairs myself (more politely than that.) Carrying 5 lbs up two flights of stairs is a lot less work than hooking up a car for a tow, he just didn't have the wherewithal to realize that.
 

italdesign

Level 2 Member
The thing to keep in mind is that you don't pay these tow guys or the various dispatch services to think. If there's a creative solution (even a blindingly obvious one) you have to come up with it. Your Platinum tow guy could easily have come out and unlocked the car just the same.
Agreed. In my case the situation evolved: I requested a tow. They couldn't find one. Then I ran into my friend and he could give me a ride, so then I only needed an unlock. I think Plat could have gotten me an unlock, but by then AAA was already on the way.
 

twentyseventy

Level 2 Member
Car wasn't smart enough to detect that the key was in the car - not sure if new cars would. At this point it was 3 hours after I first started looking for the key. I was very glad to have found it after all.
My '16 Accord won't lock itself if the key is inside the car. It also won't close the trunk if the key is in there; it alleviates one of the biggest (somewhat unwarranted) fears of my life.
 

Alex1432

Level 2 Member
Generalizing that service is hard. If it rains or snows you aren't getting anyone for hours. I Also had an experience where it took then twenty some minutes to find someone and the person wasn't that far away so maybe they just call a bunch of individuals who may be in the area. Overall though for a free benefit it's worth it
 

Hanaleiradio

Level 2 Member
Have used the AMEX Plat RA for several years and always had excellent results until last winter, when they started sending guys in cars with a battery pack. Sometimes a battery pack won't work on a vehicle with a totally drained battery that needs a lot of juice to start (many pickups.) This year we started using the RA through Citi Prestige. Although the CSR side of Citi's RA goes through a clunky, GA based call center that is not nearly as competent as AMEX's, both times I used them a flat bed tow truck showed up just in case a jump wouldn't work. Yet another small example of how AMEX has lost ground to Citi in the premium card space.
 

zceuxbhjutf

Panel 3 Member
I locked my key in the car in the Walmart parking lot. I never do dumb stuff like that*.

I didn't call Amex**.

I walked home, then rode a bicycle back with the other key.





* except when, after pulling into the parking spot, I have work to do: tearing open the packaging on several GCs

** I'd never have an Amex if it weren't for MS. Since tow trucks have nothing to do with MS, I forgot I had that benefit.
 

Benjamin

Level 2 Member
I appreciate the data point. I have wondered about this sort of thing. Recently used AMEX concierge and had a similar interaction regarding a callback. They never did. I got an email the next day telling me they couldn't find a reservation for me. Seems this sort of thing is always "Over promise, under deliver" with AMEX.
 

italdesign

Level 2 Member
Used Prestige RA today for a lockout. Took over an hour from start of call to help arriving, but was otherwise straightforward. Also interestingly she said there's no maximum occurrence limit per year like Amex Plat.

I need to stop putting keys in take-off-able clothing. Or I need a new car with smart anti-lockout protection.
 

MaryE

Level 2 Member
Triple A all the way. Did the worst nightmare thing for a woman. Ran out of gas on the I-5 past the grapevine in CA. Stuck off to the side of the road, barely, at night around 9pm and cell phone almost died as in 5%. I was able to call Triple A. Two women pulled over to my car and I rolled down the window barely. They called the police, then left. When the police came, they pushed my car off the side of the road farther away from the traffic. They said that they would like to stay but actually were positioning themselves for a high speed chase. Yep, they weren't kidding, and soon after took off after some guy. So, here I am on the side of the road with like 2% left, with the fog rolling in, and in the dark alone on the side of the road. Talk about freaked out. I see the Triple A truck on the other side of the highway but it rolls past. In total I waited about 40 minutes. Triple A truck pulls up and puts gas in my car. I sign and off I go. I spent the night in a Sheraton farther up the road. Could not see anything. This happened in 2014. Scary, but Triple A all the way.
 

ZipZapKaZoom

Level 2 Member
A couple years ago AAA allowed me to call in, sign up for membership and immediately request a service call.

Unfortunately when I tried that recently, they said any service calls within 24 hours of registration would incur a 75 dollar fee. In my case, it was cheaper to call the local AutoZone and ask 'em who they thought would give me a tow for a great price.

Said differently, I'm glad to have an Amex Platinum card now, even if it isn't as good as AAA.
 

Ian

Level 2 Member
AAA for approximately $50 a year with 90 mile towing range seems like a better call overall in my opinion.
agree 100% . Been with them 15 years. Never had a year go by where I thought it wasn't worth it
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
My husband used Amex Biz Plat twice in the past month. Towed both times. First was a couple miles over the 10 - was charged $7, second time it was under 10 miles so the tow was free. Both times the tow truck was there in ~20 minutes.

Maybe it depends where you live?
 

Mauddib6

Level 2 Member
I had to use Amex platinum RA a few weeks ago. Other than having to wait 1.5 hours in a large downtown area that should have had numerous trucks immediately available, it was ok. CSR was very nice and called to confirm that the help had arrived.
 
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